Smile Through Adversity

Every entrepreneur and business owner experiences multiple calamities during the life of his or her enterprise. You lose an account, have a product fail, lose a key employee, a crucial vendor crashes and burns, slow pays, no pays, the list is long . . . and none of us is immune.

There are just too many obstacles facing business owners to let negativity get in the way. That’s why, the most positive entrepreneurs are often the most successful.

Being positive, especially in the face of a crisis, is no easy task. Even though experience prepares us to expect an unexpected calamity, the moment something goes wrong, negativity can take over our thoughts. And, if allowed to dominate our attitude, can eventually impact many other areas of our lives.

The worst thing that we can do to hinder our ability to perform at a high level and be successful is to be discouraged or appear to be dispirited, especially in the middle of adversity.

Here are three areas to combat a defeated attitude—internally and externally:

See failure as a new start. Optimism allows us to learn from failures, pick up the pieces and move on to something greater. The greatest business ideas often occur shortly after a significant failure. That’s because, when things are good, we tend to coast along without making any dramatic leaps. When things go bad, our world gets shaken up, which requires us to grow, see new things, and start over. In contrast, when you see a setback as end-of-the world failure, you become your own worst enemy.

Get physically healthy. Focusing on the positive, instead of the negative, improves mental well-being, which can also motivate individuals to take better care of their bodies. Not only are positive people generally happier and less stressed, but they also tend to have healthier hearts. In a study of more than 5,100 adults, researchers from the University of Illinois found that those who were the most positive were 76 percent more likely to have health scores in an ideal range. In addition, positive people had significantly better blood sugar and cholesterol levels, exercised more, and had healthier body mass indexes,

Be optimistic. Negativity causes us to fixate on the fear of failure. But you can’t “just think positive” and stop there. You must pair your positive thinking with positive action. Believe in yourself, believe in your team, believe in your mission and expect to prevail over your next challenge.

Remember, being positive is contagious. Having an upbeat attitude can inspire everyone around you. Smile a lot. It’s a reflection of your confidence.

Optimistic leaders can help motivate and engage their employees. A positive team will be driven to accomplish goals and work together to move your business forward.